Meet my friend, Bev Jones, a woman I have known for more than 30 years and who was my mentor before there was such a term. Bev has a sprawling, ambitious, breathtaking garden on her farm, Buckeye Farm, in the Shenandoah Mountains, and her gardens have been featured in a number of shelter magazines. You must see it to believe it. Here she shares just a tiny bit of her gardening wisdom and just a few views from her garden. Enjoy!

I’ve always loved abundance in the garden.  When I plant a new bed, my heart thrills at the vision of tumbling masses of color and sweeping patterns of foliage.
 
Recently, however, I’ve been learning about value of clear space in the garden.  Paths and resting spots provide vantage points for appreciating all that abundant planting.  So this year I'm methodically extending the paths within my garden design. I find that newly opened spaces allow access to features and views that had been hidden. I'm whittling down the size of my beds, and yet at the same time I'm increasing their impact.
 
I think that the paths also can enrich the experience of exploring the garden. I hope that it’s intriguing to spot an opening in the hedge, and then follow a winding path through trees and shrubs until you come upon the gazebo at the edge of a pond.

Photos courtesy of Bev Jones